Galena stared at Rau. The coward was waiting for her to come to him. Well, that’s fine, she thought grimly. Placing her sword in her scabbard so she could use her hands, she sent a fierce and strong wind straight to him, knocking down and blowing aside every creature that stood between them. The world seemed to stop all around her and all she could see and hear was him. Stepping into the path she cleared, she brought her hands up and over her head creating a ring of fire that sizzled all around her and Rau. Any dark creatures caught in the middle of the circle of fire, she sent flying with a swipe of her hand. The fire blazed all around, blocking out everything, but Rau. It wasn’t as high as the one she used to circle the camp, but she knew it would do the job just as well.
“We finally meet,” Rau said in his deep, guttural voice.
Galena cringed slightly at the sound of it, but refused to back down. “I believe we’ve met a couple of times before. Speaking of which, how’s your face?” she said smirking slightly.
Rau’s expression became distorted with anger.
Galena watched in fascination as he sent his shadows out toward her. She swiped her hand in front of her, sending out a bright light and causing Rau to hiss in pain. “Still haven’t learned, have you? You can’t touch me with your dark magic. You’ll be forced to fight me.”
“Shouldn’t be much of a fight, you’re just a silly, little female,” he hissed menacingly.
“A silly little female you can’t touch with your precious little shadows.”
Rau sneered at Galena, switching his giant blade to his other hand as he descended the stairs that led to his doorway. Galena removed her sword from the scabbard. A calm stole over her as she held the Sword of Lumina in her hand. She swung it around and gripping it with both hands, prepared herself for Rau’s attack. The swirling black mist making up his entirety was racing around within the confines of his body, showing the evidence of his anger. Galena found it hard to concentrate on him as a whole instead of the shadows within. Shaking her head slightly, she watched his slow progression toward her. She wasn’t sure if it was the slow walk of confidence or the slow walk of fear, she was personally hoping it was the latter.
“You’ve caused me a great deal of trouble,” he said, slowly circling around her, his blade pointing to the ground in his hand.
“Yeah, sorry about that. I was going more for the complete chaos type of attention. Apparently, I’m slacking.” Galena followed his progress by shuffling her feet around; her own sword was still in both hands, ready and waiting. She realized she must look like a scared little elf, but she wasn’t going to die trying to pretend she was feeling confident in her abilities.
Rau sneered at her once more, evidently he didn’t like the way their conversation was going. Instead of saying anything else, he swung his arm up and arched it down toward Galena’s head. She brought her sword up to meet his blade and was stunned at the strength of which he possessed. She slid her sword down the length of his before twisting away. She prepared herself again, secretly dreading his next blow. He didn’t keep her waiting long, but came at her at a full run. Ducking down as he swung around, she felt the blade whizz past her head as she spun around, slicing his back. Shadows oozed out like blood from the shallow wound. Rau howled in anger, as he backtracked. Swinging around, he brought his blade up, cutting Galena’s leg deeply. She screamed out, the cut feeling as if she had been burned with ice.
Not waiting for her to heal herself, Rau came at her again, which she managed to twist out of the way, flipping back so there was more distance between them. Using her hand, she sent out a blast of light toward him, which he managed to duck. He came running at her and spinning around at the last moment, struck her upper arm with a backward strike. Galena grabbed the wound, blood oozing past her fingers.
She turned so she was facing him once more, quickly healing some of the muscles there and in her legs as she watched him swing his sword in a circular motion before he came charging again. At the last moment, Galena jumped up and flipped over him, blasting him with bright light. Rau screamed out, blindly swinging his sword all around. Galena managed to skip out of the way, but just barely.
Her limbs were beginning to shake horribly, the pain in her arm and leg still burning fiercely. She focused on them once more, but had very little time. Rau had recovered. He turned to find Galena, his face more smoky looking than shadowy at this point.
“You know you’ll never defeat me. Even King Lamiria couldn’t,” Rau said, his voice sending shudders through Galena.
“Yeah, I like to think I’m made of tougher stuff than him.”
“I’ll give you that.” He closed the gap between them, striking down at her. Galena briefly blocked the blow, avoiding taking his full strength and dropping to a squat, spun around and kicked out her leg. She wasn’t sure if you could knock down a shadow man, but it had always worked on Elenio. Her leg connected with his and she kicked them out from under him, causing him to land heavily on his back. She stood quickly, trying to take advantage of his awkward position, but he was too quick. He started to roll out of the way, but not before the Sword of Lumina could leave a cut in his side.
This time Galena followed, refusing to let him get to his feet without doing more damage to him. She brought her sword up, swinging it down to cut his back as he stood to his feet. She watched as her sword ran down the length of his back, leaving a gaping wound there. Shadows flowed freely from the cut, and she could tell it was starting to have the desired effect on him. Rau was growing weak and tired.
He turned around, switching his sword to his other hand, before coming at Galena full force. She blocked one blow and was sliding her sword down when he came back with blow after blow. It was all she could do to hold her own. She went to spin away, but he caught her other leg, cutting her calf almost in half. Galena was limping horribly, unable to stand on the injured leg. He came at her again, a ferocious look upon his face. Galena brought her sword up to block the blow, stopping it just inches from her face. She pushed up, causing Rau to temporarily lose his balance. She sent another blast of light his way, but he easily dodged this, running at her with full force. Galena barely got her sword up in time to block the blow. Using his sword, he managed to knock her blade away, leaving her exposed to his full onslaught.
“Mira help me,” she quietly prayed. Instantly, a bright light filled the area within the fire ring. Galena felt her limbs grow stronger, the cuts healed, her energy restored. Using Rau’s temporary distraction to her advantage, she flipped out of the way and picked up her sword all in one fluid motion. She turned to face Rau, who was wasting no time getting to her. She jumped up, and cut down with her sword, striking his shoulder, her blade biting deep into the tissue and muscles there. She landed behind Rau, facing him with her sword ready. His arm hung limply at his side, unable to grip his sword. He faced her then, taking his sword with his good hand. He was panting heavily and looked hesitant to attack again to which Galena smiled broadly.
She was preparing to charge again. Instead, was blasted to the ground with wind and light. Closing her eyes against the onslaught of light that could only come from a god, she waited until it faded, slowly getting to her feet in the process. Cautiously, she opened her eyes and seeing the brightness dimming, she looked behind Rau. Her stomach filled with ice as she beheld the god standing on the stairs directly behind him. Rau was doubled over, clearly feeling the toll of the wounds he suffered at the hand of Galena, not paying a bit of attention to the god behind him. This didn’t bode well with her. She focused her attention on the god once more, noting the brilliant white toga and jet-black hair. He was impressive looking, if not handsome.
“To think, Mira chose to heal you versus keeping me in chains. I never said I had the smartest family,” the god chuckled menacingly.
Unlike Mira’s voice, Haulua’s reminded Galena of everything she feared. She heard rockslides and roaring rivers bloated with the rain that fell all through the spring. She heard wild, angry dogs and the vicious voices of torlics. Her ears cringed with every word and she wanted desperately to clamp her hands over them, but thought that would portray fear. She stood straight and tall, eyeing the god with disgust.
“And to think she needed to keep you chained up at all,” Galena said boldly.
To her surprise, the god laughed at this, but rather than sounding pleasant, it merely frightened Galena further. The god’s laugh was full of cruelty and hatred. “What do you think you can do against me little one. I am a god, not to be trifled with.”
She had to give him that one. Now that he was standing here, she wasn’t quite sure what to do next. Nervously, she tossed her blade from hand to hand.
“So this is the famous blade that is supposed to be the downfall of my creation and me as well. Not much to look at is it?” he asked, eyeing the blade curiously.
“Yeah, neither is this place, but yet, it keeps attracting attention so something has got to be there.”
“Fool,” the god hissed, sending chills down Galena’s spine.
She felt a great weight push on her from all sides until she felt crushed with the invisible force. She struggled to move, let alone being able to breathe, but her struggles were futile.
“Do you really think I need a weapon to destroy you? I can squeeze the life out of you without really trying.”
It was in that moment, the voice of Mira echoed through her head. “The gods cannot directly take the life of a creature. It has be to done through others.”
“No, you can’t,” Galena managed to gasp out, using the last of her air supply in the process.
“True, that I can’t, but I can definitely injure you so one of my creations can finish the job for me.”
The pressure intensified and Galena felt some of her ribs crack beneath it. Screaming in pain, the pressure released, allowing her to drop to the ground where she stayed clutching her sides.
“There you go, Rau. Do you think you can handle this pathetic creature now?” the god asked his creation sarcastically.
Rau grunted painfully, using his sword like a cane to stand straight. He looked wearily at Galena and seeing her crouched on the ground, sword lying beside her, and clutching her sides tightly, he grinned cruelly.
“Sure, now that I have been pulverized, you can take me on,” Galena said just loud enough for him to hear. The act of breathing was painful enough, talking on top of that intensified the pain that much more.
Rau didn’t respond to this, but took one slow menacing step toward her. Testing a theory, Galena reached out a hand and attempted to burn Rau with another ray of light, but just as she thought, Haulua blocked her attempt.
Yep, that’s fair, she thought wryly. “Okay, I have one chance at this. It’s time to show them what a silly female can do,” she muttered under her breath.
Adjusting her feet so they were in a position where she could get up quickly, she briefly focused her attention on her ribs, healing them just enough so that she would be able to move without passing out from pain. She grabbed the hilt of her sword and felt a burst of energy she had not felt before. She looked down at the ground; still clutching her ribs with her other arm as if they still greatly bothered her. She listened for the sound of Rau’s feet scraping over the dark intunerics that paved the ground. When he was just feet away, Galena said a quick prayer to the remaining gods and goddess. Quicker than she would have thought possible with broken ribs, she stood to her full height, shot out a hand and caused the face of Haulua to burst into flames. Knowing she had merely seconds before the god recovered from this minor inconvenience, she charged Rau.
The world slowed down, making every detail clear and distinct. She watched as Rau, using his remaining strength, brought his blade out and down at Galena. She could tell from the resigned look on his face that he fully expected her to block the blow. Galena, knowing she wouldn’t have a chance at a fair fight, decided against doing exactly that, swung her sword down, readjusting her grip on the blade so she could bring it up and into the stomach of Rau with all the strength she possessed. She pushed the blade further into his body even when Rau’s own sword cut deep into her side where it remained. The world righted itself as Galena stood, nose to nose with Rau, the tip of her blade visible just below the base of his neck and slightly above his shoulder blades.
“Not bad for just a silly female elf, huh,” she spat, blood spraying his face as she spoke. Letting go of the hilt, Galena fell to her knees, her eyes never leaving Rau who stood above her, frozen and staring down at the sword. Galena felt his own blade still embedded in her side, but didn’t have the strength to remove it. Hot, sticky blood flowed down her side, pooling around her in a dark crimson puddle. Her energy flowed out with it, and she didn’t care anymore. She had done what she set out to do.
She saw Haulua vaguely in the distance. He had rid himself of the fire, but now stood frozen to the spot, dumbstruck. Galena would have laughed at the ridiculous expression on his face if she’d the energy, so she settled for staring at him with dying eyes. His own eyes remained focused solely on Rau.
Galena watched detachedly as shadows began to race away from Rau, as if they were finally free from their own enslavement. They seemed to drain away, leaving nothing but a black void in its place, much like an empty shell. All the features she feared and hated dissolved away as well. Tiny cracks, like a spider web, started at the point where the sword entered his belly, spreading rapidly through his body. They widened and grew, stretching out to the very tips of his fingers. Light began to peek out from those cracks, little bits at first, but then they began to shine out like beacons of hope. Rau seemed unable to move, to breathe. He stood, frozen like a statue, eyes glued to the sword that pierced him.
Haulua, who had not moved the during the entire process, reached up, grabbing fists full of hair, his eyes bulging in rage before screaming, “NNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
Galena’s eyes rolled back into her head, and her eardrums exploded with the cry of the god. She thought she was past the point of feeling pain, but clearly, this had not been the case. Blood came gushing out from both ears and down her neck onto her shoulders. She was too weak and tired to do anything about any of her injuries though. She found herself wondering how much longer she would be able to hang on.
Galena noticed the god’s own body was covered in the same cracks as Rau, and light spilled from them too. The god took notice of these too and curses Galena had only ever heard from the angriest elves, flew from his mouth. She heard something about Mira and their mother, but decided what he had to say really wasn’t worth listening to, so she tuned him out. An explosion of light and wind blasted everything on the island to the ground as both Haulua and Rau’s bodies gave over to the unescapable light.
Her fire ring was reduced to ashes and the world around her lay motionless, as everyone was unconscious from the blast. Only Galena was left on her knees, her arms hanging uselessly beside her. She looked up to the sky, unable to control her head properly. Light came from every direction and nowhere at all. It blinded her, surrounded her, but still she could not shut her eyes. Tears streaming down her face, she watched as the dark intunerics all around her dissolved away into black smoke before dissipating into nothing. The very castle she found so imposing before shrank away, replaced by the blinding light.
Before her, stood three tall figures. In the center stood Mira, her fiery, red hair blowing around her as she stared lovingly down at Galena. On her right was a taller figure. He was incredibly handsome with bright, blue eyes and golden hair hanging around his shoulders. He had a sharp nose, but a gentle smile. On Mira’s left was another figure every bit as tall as the blonde god. This one had dark, brown hair full of curls and falling just short of his shoulders. He wore a dark beard and had snapping brown eyes. He too smiled warmly down at Galena.
She tried to bow her head to them, but only succeeded in throwing herself face first onto the bare earth once covered by the hated, dark stones. She groaned painfully when she felt Rau’s blade dissolve as well, leaving her wound gaping, and bleeding profusely.
“You have done well, my child,” she heard the voice of Mira above her, but she couldn’t look up, she didn’t have the strength. She felt a warm heat spreading through her body and into her limbs, causing the pain of her injuries to fade completely. She took a deep breath, relieved that it no longer ached to do so. Using her hands, she lifted herself up until she stood in front of the gods.
“We thought our sister foolish to hide away a sword made of light. We didn’t believe the elf race would ever return to their former state,” the blonde god, who Galena assumed from the stories told was Luma.
“We are very glad to be proven wrong,” the second god, Kya, said bowing his head to Galena.
“Peace, Galena. You have earned it,” Mira said, her smile shining brighter than her brothers’. With that, they faded from view, the light fading with them, leaving Galena standing in the center of a beautiful island surrounded by light, all traces of Rau’s dark domain gone.